One difficulty in operating a modern armored vehicle in warm climates is that the vehicle's interior heats up to temperatures in excess of 130 degrees. The vehicle must be cooled to protect the vehicle's crew members from heat exhaustion and allow them to perform their duties. Conventional internal cooling systems are generally ineffective for armored vehicles under hot, sunny conditions due to the great amount of energy they use to cool the vehicles' interiors. Conventional cooling systems also require the vehicle's so called "power pack" or propulsion system to run constantly.
To address the above difficulties, I propose a semi-passive cooling system driven by pressure generated from the power pack and then stored in an accumulator or pressure vessel for later use. Cooling the vehicle with the semi-passive system does not require the vehicle's power pack to run constantly. Also, the semi-passive cooling system uses only small amounts of power from the vehicle battery to operate the system's pressure sensors and thermal sensors.
The semi-passive cooling system can be regarded as having three basic elements. The first is a tough, wettable "wicking" skin comprised of sheets of fabric removably attached to external zones of the vehicle. The second element is a supply subsystem comprised of the pressure storage vessel, a pressurizable water reservoir and valved means to deliver pressurized water to individual sheets of the wicking skin. The third basic element is a control subsystem that governs water flow to the wicking skin in response to heat levels at the vehicle's exterior zones. The control subsystem also controls pressures for various components of the delivery subsystem.
During system operation, when an exterior zone reaches a given temperature, a thermal switch of the control subsystem will close and thereby actuate a timed hydraulic valve. The hydraulic valve allows water to flow to the appropriate sheet of wicking skin for a preset interval, whereupon the water disperses throughout the sheet and then evaporates to cool the exterior zone. When the exterior zone again heats up, the process is repeated.